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Hard to believe we’re more than halfway through FemFest 2018: Staging Resistance! It’s been an incredible week of theatre already… Saturday saw an eclectic Opening Cabaret with musicians, comedians, and spoken word artists from across Winnipeg! On Monday, we crowned Alissa Watson as our Bake-Off winner with her scene The Switch, which will get its own reading at FemFest 2019. We also premiered some incredible touring shows from around the world, including Burnt and La civilisation, ma mère! As the festival comes to a close, here are some events you won’t want to miss.

This solo piece by two-time Governor General’s Award Nominee Donna-Michelle St. Bernard (aka Belladonna the Blest) speaks truth to power using spoken word, storytelling and hip-hop. The show highlights St. Bernard’s quick wit and quicker rhymes in a performance that reflects on identity, oppression and what happens when authority is questioned. We’ll be hosting a talkback discussion after today’s matinee at 1PM, facilitated by Tamika Krush of QPOC Winnipeg. Don’t miss your chance to experience this powerful production for yourself!

Darla Contois takes on the ensemble of characters that make up this transformative work, focusing on the story of Eva, a Cree teenage girl, and her journey through the maze of a White Man’s high school. Following the opening performance on September 18th, we hosted a panel with Darla, Matt B. Shorting of Onashowewin Justice Circle, and Gabrielle Fiddler of Ndinawe Youth Resource Centre to talk about the issues presented by the play, as well as the larger topic of Indigenous representation on stage. There are two more chances to take in this incredible one-woman show: tonight at 9PM and Friday at 7PM!

Be one of the select few who will get to experience this brand-new event! We’ve brought in an incredible team of artists who will be performing at some of Downtown Winnipeg’s hidden gems. The tour is hosted by local comedienne Heather Witherden and features Emilie Lemay (visual art), Tiana Northage (spoken word), Alexandra Elliott and Hilary Anne Crist of Art Holm (movement), Dawn Lavand (stand-up comedy), and waNda wilsoN (music). Just twenty people will get to take part in this unique event: book your spot today so you don’t miss out! The tour wraps up September 22nd at 2PM.

4. ASL-Interpreted Performances

After responding to requests to make theatre more accessible to our community, we’re proud to announce that we’ll be offering ASL interpretation for three shows in this year’s festival! Come see Burnt tonight at 7PM, White Man’s Indian Friday at 7PM, or Sound of the Beast Saturday also at 7PM. Tickets start at $15 – get yours today!

5. One Night Stand

Join us on the closing night of the festival as we toast to 16 successful years! We’ll be featuring sneak peeks of new work from celebrated female playwrights, including Leigh-Anne Kehler, Frances Koncan, Jo MacDonald, Cairn Moore, and Donna-Michelle St. Bernard. The series is coordinated by Tatiana Carnevale and features performances by Melanee Deschambeault, Katie German, Kim Kakegamic, Glenn Odero, Matthew Paris-Irvine, and Erica Wilson.

The festival is running until Saturday, September 22nd with all performances taking place at the Asper Centre for Theatre and Film (400 Colony St) unless otherwise noted. With so much to take in, you won’t want to miss a thing! Make sure to check out our full FemFest schedule for all our upcoming events.

We’re bringing back an audience favourite at FemFest: our annual Bake-Off! Each year, we challenge five fearless playwrights to cook up a scene using the secret ingredients of our choosing – in just eight hours. From there, the scenes are rehearsed with our fabulous team of actors, directed by coordinator Cairn Moore, and put to the test with an audience vote for the winner! The winning playwright will then get the chance to have their scene turned into a one-act play which will have a reading at FemFest 2019. This year’s mandatory ingredients included a drone, children’s laughter, and the Nellie McClung quote “democracy for women”.

Get to know the new batch of incredible writers behind this year’s Bake-Off!

Ntara Curry

Ntara Curry is a multi-disciplinary artist, working primarily in professional theatre as a stage hand, stage manager, and actor. She is delighted to also be bringing her skills as dancer and writer to FemFest 2018. You can also catch Ntara in our co-production of The Gamewith Manohar Performing Arts of Canada!

Jo MacDonald

After winning last year’s Bake-Off with OUR HOME & native land, Jo MacDonald is back to defend her title! Jo is Anishinaabe, a mom, theatre fan, writer, and an educator. She gave up dreams of super-villainy as it wasn’t as lucrative as depicted at the job fairs (false advertising… but then again what can you expect from an evil genius job pitch). She received her BA and B.Ed. from the University of Winnipeg. You can catch a reading of last year’s winning Bake-Off script September 15th and also get a glimpse of Jo’s latest work at our One Night Stand series on September 22nd!

Allison Stier

New to the Bake-Off is Allison Stier. Allison is a fledgling playwright who prefers the eating of baked goods rather than the mixing and kneading and baking. Born and raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba, she has loved putting words into delicious arrangements for the greater part of her existence. She is quite thankful that the ingredients for this Bake-Off are of the word variety, which in most cases, don’t result in a sink full of dirty dishes.

As a Winnipeg born actress, educator, and now writer, Alissa Watson has studied theatre at The Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, England, the Manitoulin Conservatory for Creation and Performance, and is an alumna of the Professional Training Ensemble (PTE@PTE). Alissa is a member of the sweet and cheeky Fu Fu Chi Chi Choir, the all-female Bouffon ensemble The Talentless Lumps, and co-founder of The Red Nose Diaries.

Pamela Wolk

Last up is Pamela Wolk. Pamela completed a BA Honours in Theatre Studies from the University of Regina with stars in her eyes of life on the stage. Funny how plans change. She was swept off her feet by a military man and followed him from posting to posting. Twenty years later she is back on the theatre scene, most recently acting in Jo MacDonald’s Fringe comedy Mother’s Little Secret.

Cairn Moore

Returning as director for her third year in a row is Cairn Moore. Cairn is a director and playwright and teaches first year performance at the University of Winnipeg. Her award winning play SHIKSA premiered with Winnipeg Jewish Theatre in 2016. Breaking Through, co-written with Hope McIntyre, premiered in May 2017 with Sarasvàti Productions. With the generous support of the Manitoba Arts Council, Cairn is currently re-writing her first play HABsolute Perfection. Catch a sneak peak at the One Night Stand series!

Bringing the scenes to life are local performers Grant Burr, Jane Burpee, Karam Daoud, Simba Meng, and Taesia Scratch. Come see the results of an eight-hour playwriting pressure cooker Monday, September 17th at 7PM at the Asper Centre for Theatre and Film (400 Colony St at the U of W). Get your tickets today and vote to select the winner!

Who knew that an educational play about the history of the Treaties and how the Canadian government has violated them could be so…funny? And who could write such a play? Jo MacDonald could. And she won last year’s Bake-Off with it!

In case you’re not familiar with it, the Bake-Off is an annual event in FemFest. Playwrights are given just eight hours to “bake” up a scene with three specific “ingredients” (actions or lines) so that they can’t write ahead. The audience is then invited to a reading of these fresh ideas and they get to decide which one has the most potential for a complete play. The winning playwright receives dramaturgical guidance so that they can finish the play and have it read at the following FemFest.

OUR HOME & native land is about two friends, Niibin and Cheryl, who are leading a workshop called “Understanding the Treaties”. They have their work cut out for them when the self-absorbed Stephanie and the mansplaining George walk in. Neither Stephanie nor George is aware of their privilege, their biases, or their ignorance. When Mrs. Bruneau, warm, friendly, and given to storytelling, comes in, it becomes clear that she does not need the workshop so much as it needs her. She helps Niibin and Cheryl win their reluctant guests over, but you’ll have to come and find out how. The only spoilers that we can give you are that it’s outrageously funny and will make you curious (and angry) about the history of the treaties and how our government has violated them.

In OUR HOME & native land, Jo MacDonald proves herself to be a sharply witty and engaging writer. Recently, her play Mother’s Little Secret was performed to packed houses at the Fringe Festival, directed by our wonderful Indigenous Outreach Coordinator, Marsha Knight. Her play Neechie-Itas was a runner-up in the Native American New Play Festival in Oklahama City. Jo was a big hit at last year’s FemFest and she will be again this year. In fact, her work was also selected to be featured in the FemFest One Night Stand as part of the festival closing night.

Don’t miss this brand-new play—there will be just one reading at 1:00 pm on Saturday, September 15 at the Asper Centre for Theatre and Film. You can get your tickets here!

“Can you name a time that you’ve had to start all over? New school? New house? New activity? Throughout the course of the show, we’ll be like flies on the wall watching the stories of people who had to start over. What you are about to see is from true stories shared by people about coming to Canada.” – Joker, Home 2.0

Imagine sitting in your school gym and getting to experience music, dance, and visuals from half a dozen different cultural groups played out before your eyes, all threaded together to tell the journey of displaced people arriving to Canada. At the end of the performance, the actors invite you on stage to step in to the shoes of a character and explore solutions to the challenges they faced.

In May, we saw the culmination of the first part of our newcomer community collaboration project, New Beginnings. Now we’re continuing the project with Home 2.0!

Home 2.0 was created especially for youth, focusing on their experiences of resettlement. Young audiences will engage with characters their own age, allowing youth to see themselves and their stories represented onstage. By sharing stories of immigrant and refugee youth who have resettled in Canada, Home 2.0 will foster important dialogue around the challenges of newcomers. For many youth, this might be the first time they see their experiences represented in the arts. For others, it might be the first time they’ve been able to really grasp what it’s like to be forced to leave your home and start again halfway across the world.

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Like our previous school tours, Home 2.0 is performed “forum theatre style”, meaning the audience gets a say in the events onstage. Forum Theatre is a lively and effective way to look at and counter issues that our community faces today by encouraging audiences to take an active role in the show rather than acting as bystanders. The show offers students the chance to watch the “worst case scenario” play out before them – followed by the opportunity to change the ending, offer solutions, or provide support for the characters. By challenging what happens, youth are able to think about how they would act or how they wish they had acted in a similar scenario. Ultimately, the show promotes empathy and compassion, educating students on the experiences of starting over in a new country.

We’ll be touring the show throughout Winnipeg and Manitoba October 15 through to December 7, visiting schools in the community to promote inclusion and understanding. If you’re a teacher looking to bring the show to your students, contact Daphne at associate@sarasvati.ca for more information!

After two years of community interviews and workshops, the world premiere of New Beginnings took Winnipeg by storm! Over the course of the run, we had multiple sold-out shows and over 750 people came to see the play. Every performance offered a conversation circle to continue the dialogue sparked by this production, allowing audiences the chance to ask questions and learn more about the stories reflected in New Beginnings. Here are some of the great things people had to say!

“It was wonderful, I cried and laughed. Those stories are so powerful. The first one with the burka is how we escaped. I actually wore one for the first time in my life then. You guys did a great job bringing these stories to life.” – Ellie Towfigh via Facebook

“I’m excited to be a member of such an amazing company that inspires audiences to reach out and connect with others to promote social change in such powerful ways… Perspective is hugely important to being a positive member of a community and I believe that it can often be overlooked. But New Beginnings brings forward so many unique stories that can perhaps open horizons for our audiences and introduce the realities of immigration and resettlement.” – Alanna McPherson, Performer

“New Beginnings by Sarasvati Productions is beyond amazing. This production cannot end. The message of reality of resettlement should be heard by thousands more. The actors, content and music touched my soul.” – Judy Rose via Facebook

The cast onstage for a talkback

Gerry Atwell and Hope McIntyre

Thanks to a generous grant from the Inter-Action Program, we were able to offer a wide variety of accessibility services including ASL interpretation, child-minding, translation, transportation, and counselling for any audience members affected by the play’s subject matter. On May 24th, we played host to close to 100 Yazidi refugees from Operation Ezra, offering Kurmanji translation via headset and child-minding provided by Operation Ezra and West Central Women’s Resource Centre.

“Congratulations on an excellent production! Thank you so much for having the Operation Ezra families at the show. It was a great opportunity for them to experience live theatre. We really appreciate you going above and beyond to make it accessible to all. The translation and child care allowed many of the attendees to experience their first live show. We had no idea what to expect yet we found ourselves laughing at times and crying at times. We recognized some of the stories which made it even more impactful.” – Karen Shpeller, Operation Ezra

Over the course of the run, we had representatives from Winnipeg’s newcomer community speak after the show, allowing audiences to hear their stories and share their own as well. We also hosted Kamta Roy Singh, whose story appeared in the play.

“It was fantastic show last night. The individuals who act as Kamta and employee did amazing job. Congratulations.” – Kamta Roy Singh, Kamta’s Story

Kamta Singh and Lu Fayokun

“I would like to commend you, your cast and all the others involved in this performance a great “BRAVO” on an excellent performance. I was in attendance at the world premiere of Sarasvati Productions presentation of New Beginnings and was so impressed with it… A very great performance by the cast. Representatives of the Jamaican Association of Manitoba were invited to answer questions and share comments with the cast and audience at the end of the performance. A great evening.” – Patrick Moore, Jamaican Association of Manitoba

We couldn’t have made this production happen without the community members who participated in our workshops and allowed us to share their stories onstage. Big thank-yous as well to our incredible creative team, our hard-working volunteers, and everyone who came out to support New Beginnings!

The One Night Stand series is back for its final installment of the season: the Carol Shields Festival of New Works, hosted by Prairie Theatre Exchange! This time around, we’ll be showcasing eight works-in-progress in preparation for the 2018 Winnipeg Fringe Festival! For a sneak peek of what’s to come at this year’s Fringe, check out what’s new from local theatre companies:

Written by Reba Terlson and co-created by Craig Terlson
Directed by Kaeleigh Ayre

Cast: Reba Terlson, Rachel Hiebert, Drew Jensen

Venue: Playhouse Studio

Best friends Morgan and Julie have awful luck with dating. Julie just got out of a relationship and forgets how to date, and Morgan can’t remember the last time she had a worthwhile date. They place a high-stakes bet to see who can go on one great date. They experience catfishing, ghosting, and cushioning as they manoeuvre the dating world.

Two people. Trapped in an abyss. Refusing to get along. In this absurdist/existentialist play two people struggle with feelings of fear, disconnection, and anger at each other, the space, and themselves. With no memory of who they are or who they are to each other, they have to confront how and why people come to hate each other, as well as how to move forward. This is a companion piece to last year’s Anomie (winner of the Harry Rintoul Award for Best New Manitoban Play at the 2017 Winnipeg Fringe).

Alex Colville and I walks a story of admiration and hope. Inspired by the play The Post Mistress by Tomson Highway. In the play, the Post Mistress is a magical French spirit who delivers the mail between the living and the dead.

What kinds of expectations do you have in life? Finish your degree and immediately find your dream job? Go on a blind date and find the person of your dreams? Expectations can become a positive mantra to help you achieve your goals. Other times they can be a curse: an endless stream of disappointments. Fractured Expectations is a comedic exploration of how to survive in a world of well wishes and inevitability.

From the creators of The Mystery of Krummhorn Castle (5 STARS—CBC) comes a Steampunk musical odyssey for the whole family! For young geniuses Ada and Lacey LaForge, there’s no problem that a ratchet and slide rule can’t solve. But their journey to find their long-lost aunt becomes a harrowing adventure that tests the limits of their ingenuity. Join the LaForge sisters as they outwit fearsome airship pirates, uncover astonishing family secrets, and maybe bend space and time a little.

Parked presented by Lady Brain Creative Co.

Written by Katie Grossman with material from Brigitte Sabourin

Directed by Kira Watson

Cast: Katie Grossman and Brigitte Sabourin

Venue: Playhouse Studio

Hazel is a meter maid recently rejected from grad school who’s just trying to make it through her shift. Liz just got her car towed on the worst day of her life. While the two may seem to be polar opposites, they’re more like two sides of the same coin. A heartfelt comedy about figuring out your identity, career and the rest of your life, Parked is what happens when you stay in the same place for too long.

This installment is produced by Tatiana Carnevale, who also produced our 2017 One Night Stand editions! You can check out this exciting preview of upcoming Fringe shows this Saturday, May 26th at 2PM – which will let out in time to also catch New Beginnings at 4PM. And for the final products, you can catch them at the Winnipeg Fringe Festival running July 18-29!

Just 5 days until opening and we offer you the top 5 reasons this production should not be missed! With New Beginnings, we’re pulling together a lot of moving parts: from dancers to film, music to art, there are so many elements that make up one amazing show! But that’s not all we have going on.

1. Accessibility Services

As part of our commitment to making the show as accessible as possible – particularly for the groups represented in the production – we’re also offering child-minding, transportation, and translation services so as many people as possible can take part in New Beginnings. We’ll also have ASL interpretation at our May 25th performance!

2. Visual Art Installation by Newcomer Artists

Out in the lobby, we’re also featuring artists from all over the world! We’ll be screening Patrick Mugosa’s documentary Restoration: A Refugee’s Story and showcasing work by Natalia Dechevykh, Mannan Hamrasho, and Nadim Ado. We’ll also have OneNation Exchange bags available for purchase. As well, as you enter the theatre you can check out the amazing art installation by Indra Skuja-Grislis, done specially for New Beginnings!

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3. Conversation Circles

Even after the show, the work doesn’t stop: we’ll also be hosting conversation circles following each performance to continue the dialogue sparked by these thought-provoking stories. We’ll be hosting representatives from Welcome Place (Manitoba Interfaith Immigration Council), Bread and Borders, the Jamaican Association of Manitoba, Institute for International Women’s Rights, Immigrant Women’s Oldtimers, Immigration Partnership Winnipeg, and community members featured in the production! For more info, stay tuned on social media where we’ll be announcing the different conversation facilitators for each performance.

4. Weekend Feasts

Over the two weekend performances, you’ll be able to feed your body as well as your mind thanks to our generous New Beginnings feast sponsors! Starting at 5:30 PM both days, you’ll be able to sample food from Viena do Castelo, Gohe Restaurant, and Baraka Pita with additional supplies provided by Safeway (Mountain and McGregor)! We’ll also be hosting an opening night reception on May 22nd with food donated by Diversity Food Services.

5. Boundary Avenue

In addition, we’re proud to be partnering as a double bill with One Trunk Theatre’s latest show, Boundary Avenue! The production is spearheaded by Andraea Sartison, Liam Zarrillo, and Caroline Wintoniw together with Razak Iyal and Seidu Mohammed. We’re offering discounted packages to check out both productions, available here!

With so much going on, you won’t want to miss out on what an incredible experience this show as to offer! We already have one performance sold out and another one just a few seats away from filling up. Tickets are available now through our website or call us at (204) 586-2236.